Indian indentured labourers in Fiji

Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On May 14, 1879 AD, the first group of 463 Indian indentured labourers arrived in Fiji. Today Indians comprise around 38 percent of this Pacific Archipelago's population of around 900,000, of whom some 10 percent are Muslims. The indentured labour system started in 1826 and continued till 1920, with tens of thousands of Indians transported to various colonies of European powers to provide cheap labour for the plantations in diverse places such as the French Indian Ocean islands of Reunion and Mauritius, the British colonies of West Indies in the Caribbean Sea, South Africa, and Dutch-controlled Surinam.
The contract was for five years, renewable for further five year terms, with pay of eight rupees per month and rations provided. This was actually bonded labour and the Indians were seldom repatriated as per the contracts, whose terms were rarely met by the greedy colonialists. They settled in the lands where they went for work, and this explains the millions of people of ethnic Indian origin living in the countries of the Caribbean Basin, Fiji, South Africa, and other places.